Who's Who

The Danish Ministers

A hectic last month for the Presidency

June will be one of the busiest months during the Danish Presidency with ten official Council meetings, two informal ministerial meetings and a European Council ahead.

The Danish Presidency is now entering a decisive phase. The Presidency has already reached agreement on several important files to the benefit of both European citizens and businesses, but despite that the summer weather has gradually settled in, the meeting rooms will be buzzing with activity throughout the last month of the Danish EU Presidency.

With just a single month left of the Danish Presidency of the Council, the meeting rooms in Brussels, Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Copenhagen and Horsens hum with intense activity. Danish ministers and civil servants are preoccupied with chairing intense negotiations before the Presidency is handed over to Cyprus on 1 July. Accordingly, June will be one of the busiest months during the Danish Presidency with ten official Council meetings, two informal ministerial meetings and a European Council ahead.

The overriding European agenda is economy, growth and employment - issues which are also at the top of the Danish Presidency's working programme "Europe at work". Solid public finances, reforms and promoting growth are key words for the Presidency and the last summit during the Danish presidency will largely be devoted to growth.

At present, agreements have been reached on several important proposals on growth and job creation. Among others, these include the introduction of a pilot project for European project bonds, which will make it easier for private actors to cooperate with the European Investment Bank, the EU and the Member States in order to invest in infrastructure projects such as transport, energy and information and communication technology. Agreements have also been reached on among other things standardisation and lower roaming prices ensuring European consumers lower rates for mobile telephony and data roaming abroad.

More negotiations await

In the last month of the Presidency a series of final negotiations, aiming to promote growth and strengthening Europe’s competitiveness lie ahead. Among other things, the Presidency aims to reach agreements on initiatives to boost the EU’s Single Market and to establish a European patent court, making it easier for European companies to acquire patents and upholding them throughout the EU.

"We have a busy month ahead of us, and there are many important proposals on the table, where we hope to get good results. It will require hard work and many negotiations with the other Member States and EU institutions. And the last days of the Presidency ends up with a meeting in the European Council, where growth is a key issue on the agenda", says Danish Minister for European Affairs, Nicolai Wammen.

However, to pass legislation political agreements reached in the Council are to be finalised in negotiations with the European Parliament, why additional meetings each week during June are planned in order to get as far as possible on a range of issues.

The green economy

A transition to a green economy is another important agenda for the Presidency. In this area, the Danish Presidency has worked to promote a green transition by making both agriculture and cohesion policies greener - these two policy areas account for 2/3 of the EU budget.

In June the Energy Efficiency Directive will be a main priority and tough negotiations lie ahead. Despite that all agree on the need for increased energy efficiency in Europe, there are many interests at stake. At the informal meeting of the European Council on 23 May the importance of an agreement in June was stressed by among others the President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy.